


Holiday Happiness

by Cowboy_Sneep_Dip



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Cooking, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Tree, F/F, Fluff, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 09:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9066718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip/pseuds/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip
Summary: Camilla is sad to be spending the holidays away from Corrin. Selena and Beruka attempt to bring her some holiday cheer - with less than ideal results.





	

Camilla quietly stared around the empty apartment. She stopped at the front door, pulled a scarf down from the hastily arranged coat rack, and carefully wrapped it around her neck. She sighed. She took one last look around the apartment, then stepped out into the chilly night air.

For a moment, the apartment was still. The only sounds were the bluster of snow beyond the closed curtains and frosted window panes and the gentle rumbling of the heater. Then, very softly:

“Is she gone?”

A head of red hair poked up from behind the couch. Selena eyed the front door warily, as if expecting it to fling open at any moment.

“I don’t understand why you’re trying to be so secretive about it,” complained Beruka, stepping out from behind the entertainment center.

“You know how she is,” lamented Selena, climbing over the couch and heading towards her blue-haired friend. “If she caught wind of us doing anything, she’d immediately offer to help then end up doing everything herself. We have to surprise her.” Beruka sighed.

“You know I’m right,” Selena said. “Come on, grab your coat.”

 

 

Selena turned the key in the ignition and the engine rumbled to life. It was even chilly inside the car, their breath puffing out into the air like clouds of white smoke. Selena leaned over and turned the heat on, then wiped the layer of condensation off the inside of the windshield. “Okay, read back the list to me. What all do we need to get?”

Beruka pulled out a sheet of tightly folded loose-leaf paper. Her mitten-adorned hands struggled to unfold it. “First,” she began, “we need a tree.”

“Ugh,” Selena moaned. “We waited this long, so all the good ones are gonna be taken already!”

“Let’s get going, then,” replied Beruka gruffly. “We don’t have all night, and the only lot I know of is at least twenty minutes away.” Selena pressed down the pedal and pulled out of the parking lot. The dark night air was thin and cold, with hints of snowflakes drifting through the headlight beams.

“How long did Camilla say she’d take?”

“She didn’t. She’s going shopping, and to the post office, and I think she might also be stopping by Leo’s place for a bit.”

“Alright,” Selena pumped her fist. “She’s going to the mall, right? Shopping alone would give us at least three hours, plus if she visits Leo you _know_ she’s gonna stay for at least another hour or two. That’s plenty of time.” Beruka sighed, folded up the paper, and put it back in the front pocket of her heavy winter coat.

“I hope so,”

 

They pulled into the Christmas tree lot, tires crunching on the packed snow. Selena practically leapt out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her. She sprinted off into the rows of densely packed firs, pines, and spruces. Beruka trailed behind her slowly and quietly, her heavy black boots leaving almost no prints in the snow.

“What do you think of this one? Ooh, no, wait, this one!” the redhead excitedly dashed back and forth between trees, her twin-tails drifting behind her like jets of red flame. “Ugh, I can’t decide!”

“Selena, please slow dow-“ Beruka was cut off by the sound of Selena slipping on a patch of ice as she rounded a corner. She skidded forwards towards a particularly dry-looking douglas fir. Seconds before impact, a slight brown-haired girl stepped out from behind another tree, and in one swift motion grabbed Selena’s hip, redirected her momentum, and then set her down gently on a small pile of discarded brown needles.

“Well gosh, that sure was a close one, wasn’t it?” she said, helping Selena to her feet.

“Yeah, thanks,” Selena said, bowing her head to hide her embarrassed blush. She awkwardly brushed sap and needles off her white padded jacket. “It’s…it’s not like I didn’t have it under control, or anything…”

“Oh, I’m sure,” the girl said, turning back and forth between the two visitors. “Anything I can help you ladies with this evening?”

“No,” said Beruka, stiffly.

Selena shot her an angry glance. “Actually, she corrected, “We probably could use some help. We’re trying to pick out a tree for our apartment, but…”

“This late in the month?” the brown-haired girl, who looked to be no more than a child, expressed her surprise. “You’re gonna be down to slim pickin’s if you need something in particular. I think we got a few good ones left, though. Come on!” She led the two off down a corridor of tightly packed spruce trees. “My name’s Mozu, by the way! Grew all these trees m’self.”

“Pleasure,” said Selena. “I’m Selena, and over there’s Beruka.”

“Well, I don’t know how big a tree you’re lookin’ for, but this here,” Mozu said, patting the side of a nicely shaped spruce tree. “This one here’s a blue spruce. It’s one of our cheaper ones, and since it’s so late I can give you an additional discount as well.”

“We should proba-“ Selena began.

“We’ll take it,” Beruka cut her off.

 

 

They were back on the road, the point of a tree dangling in front of the windshield, the first flurries of a heavy snowfall beginning to drift down onto the car, the rhythmic swoosh of the windshield wipers beating back any flakes that dared drop onto the car. Beruka pulled out the list again.

“I don’t think there’s anything else we need, right?” Selena said. “I know we have decorations somewhere, and we should have ingredients to make cookies.” She turned the steering wheel.

Beruka nodded. “Unless you still wanted to go and try to find a Santa suit, or you wanted to pick up any…” she squinted at the list. “Festive…lingerie-“

“Nope we’re good that’s fine!” Selena shouted, cutting her off. “We’re fine you don’t need to look at the list any more!” She reached over and swiped at the piece of paper with one hand.

Beruka leaned away, keeping the paper out of her reach. “I just think we should make sure we check everything off the list just in case, right?”

Selena smacked her on the side of the head, then turned her attention back to the road. “No,” she said, face bright scarlet, “I think we’re good. We can just go home and start getting things ready.” Beruka folded the list up again and put it back in her pocket, the ghost of a smile settling on her face.

 

 

The tree was set up in the corning of the living room, still wrapped up in plastic netting for easy transport. Getting it through the door was a struggle, and now the entrance was brushed with a light dusting of evergreen needles. Selena sat on the couch, catching her breath. “Who knew…trees were so heavy? How did that girl carry it to the car all by herself? Then she just threw it on top like it was nothing!”

Beruka began sweeping needles off the floor. “Come on,” she said. We need to get moving if you want to finish everything.”

“Oh, all right,” grumbled Selena. “I’m going to preheat the oven. Can you go dig around for the box of decorations?” She got up and crossed over to the kitchen, stopping on her way to turn on the radio. The brief pattering of jingling bells gave way to Christmas music as Selena fussed with the dials on the oven.

“Did we want to make gingerbread cookies?” she called out, tying a festive red apron around herself.

“I think so,” came the reply from the other room.

“Okay,” Selena said to herself, “so that’s…three hundred and…fifty degrees…” she adjusted the dial appropriately then began to dig for ingredients.

“Beruka!” she called out again. “Do we have any nutmeg?” Silence was the reponse.

Then, a loud _THUD_ followed by the cacophonic crash of glass and plastic. Selena shot to her feet and sprinted to see what was the matter. She stared in horror as Beruka, arms piled high with three huge boxes, tried to navigate the living room. The mess came from a fourth box that evidently had not made it through the doorway, which was now split open and spilling its fragile contents across the floor.

“Beruka!” Selena ran to help balance the precarious stack of boxes. “You could have taken them one at a time!” Beruka shrugged and set the boxes down. “This was more efficient,” she said.

Selena shook her head. “Just…be more careful, okay? Can you look for the wreaths? We can do that before decorating the tree.” She turned her attention back to the cookies, which she began mixing in a plastic bowl. She carried it into the living room, mixing it by hand, to supervise Beruka’s activities. “It’ll only take ten to fifteen minutes to bake, so the cookies should be done in plenty of time. I’ll put on some hot chocolate once the cookies are in the oven, then I’ll try to clean up the spilled box as much as I can.”

Beruka nodded. After putting up the wreaths and wall hangings, she turned her attention to decorating the ceiling. She returned to the box and began to sift for decorations. She pulled out a long string of lights, tangled up with strands of garlands and chains of paper snowflakes. She squinted at it, then set the three tangled messes down. As Selena headed back to the kitchen, she began the delicate process of extracting the lights and the paper snowflakes.

_RIP._ “It’s fine,” Beruka said, accidentally tearing through the chain. _RIP_. “It’s fine.” She repeated, doing it again. One final rip, and she violently dragged the entire chain of snowflakes out, twisting and ripping it as she went. She looked up. Selena was bent over the oven, humming along to the radio. Beruka slowly pushed the shredded decorations under the couch.

“Okay, cookies baking, hot chocolate heating, we’re good,” Selena triumphantly declared, hopping over the couch. As she landed on the cushions, she was greeted with a sharp _crackle_ and a _crunch_.

“What…did I just sit on?” she asked, mortified.

“Probably just some ornaments,” Beruka said, standing up and holding the string of lights. “Help me get these up.” Selena looked at the lights, doubtfully.

“We’ll need a ladder to get those up,” she said. “Camilla usually does it ‘cause she’s so tall. But…wait, I have an idea.” She ran to the kitchen and returned with a chair. “I’ll just stand on the chair, then you pass me the lights and I’ll hang them.”

The plan worked well, and soon the outer edge of the ceiling was lined with twinkling, colorful lights. Selena climbed down from the chair. “I could have sworn we had paper snowflakes somewhere, too.” Beruka shrugged.

Next, the tree. Selena took a pair of scissors and prepared to cut the plastic webbing around the tree. As soon as the blades touched the web, they sliced through. The tree opened up forcefully, thanking her with a facefull of sap and needles. She backed up, coughing and sputtering, spitting needles out of her mouth. As she backed up, she tripped on the box of ornaments Beruka was digging through, falling with another loud shatter.

She lay on her back, stunned, listening to the tinkle of broken glass. Beruka leaned over her face. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Selena lay on the carpet, saying nothing. “I just…need a break, I think…” she said, exhaust and defeat in her voice. She was jolted out of her stupor by a loud, screaming beep. She bolted upright, and turned towards the kitchen. _The cookies!_

She frantically clambered towards the kitchen and opened the oven, letting a cloud of black smoke billow out. The charred remains of what were once gingerbread men lay melted against the metal baking tray.

“What did you do?!” Beruka shouted over the din of the smoke alarm. Selena looked at the oven – checked the dial that she had pre-heated the oven to. She groaned and rolled her eyes. _Five hundred and thirty degrees. She mixed the numbers up._

“It’s okay!” she shouted. “We can still fix this!” She waved her hands in the air, trying to clear the air and get the smoke alarm to shut down. She accidentally hit the pot of hot chocolate, flinging the steaming brown liquid through the air. “We can still –“

At that moment, the front door opened. She and Beruka both turned slowly, each looking up from their respective disaster zones.

Camilla stepped in, arms loaded with shopping bags, eyes wide. She looked at Beruka sitting on the floor, covered in needles, surrounded in tangled lights, torn decorations, and broken glass. She looked at Selena, standing in a puddle of hot chocolate and holding a smoking, blackened tray. There was no sound at all except the soft chimes of carols coming from the radio.

Camilla slowly turned around, set down her bags, took off her scarf and jacket, knocked the snow off her heeled boots, and set them by the door. Selena, frozen with fear, made eye contact with Beruka. Beruka looked back, eyes wide.

“Um…I…” Selena stammered, setting the tray down and moving cautiously towards Camilla. The lavender-haired woman was still facing away, silent.

“I can explain,” Selena pleaded, holding her hands out towards the other woman. Beruka, too, was headed towards the front door, brushing off bits of glitter and glass. Selena slowly put a hand on Camilla’s shoulder. She felt a brief quiver, and heard a soft sob.

“Are…are you _crying_?” Selena asked, incredulously. Camilla turned her head, and Selena saw that her eyes were moist and red-rimmed. She pulled the girl into a hug, then reached out and pulled Beruka in as well. Selena wrapped her arms around the other two, and Beruka begrudgingly returned the group hug. Camilla sniffled and kissed each of them. “I love you both so much,” she said.

Selena nervously looked up into her eyes. “But…you aren’t mad? We made such as mess…we messed everything up…” Camilla kissed her again, then Beruka.

“Of course not, darlings,” she said. “How could I be mad?”

“We screwed it all up,” repeated Selena, mournfully. She began tearing up as well. “You just seemed so glum ‘cause Corrin’s gone, and we just wanted to do something nice for you, and we couldn’t do any of it.” Camilla pulled away from the embrace. Beruka cast her eyes down, mumbling. “We…we tried.”

Camilla looked around the room. “Oh, it’s not too bad,” she said. A bit of sweeping, a bit of cleaning…how about I show you how to make cookies? We can make sugar cookies and decorate them, then we can all decorate the tree together? How’s that sound?” She smiled warmly. Selena smiled at Beruka and kissed her. Beruka blushed and put her arms around Selena, putting her face into the redhead’s arm.

Camilla turned back to them and wrapped her arms around them both. “We can have a wonderful holiday, just the three of us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! Pretend that I got this finished in time for Christmas. One day late still counts, right?   
> Anyway, I absolutely love Modern AU Camilla/Beruka/Selena, so there will probably be more of this in the future.  
> As usual, I wrote this all in one sitting so let me know if there are any glaring errors/problems!  
> Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!


End file.
